IN 1984, Nike inked Michael Jordan to a five-year $7 million deal. The agreement became a blueprint for future sports stars representing large and popular enterprises of sports and leisure footwear and apparel.
Today, every famous athlete is backed by an equally popular brand, signing them to multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts, effectively making these endorsement deals their main source of income. Here are the athletes with the mostest.
Roger Federer – The Fed Express had been synonymous with Nike just like watches to Switzerland, but he had turned Japanese. In 2018, Uniqlo signed him to a 10-year, $300 million deal, doubling his 20-year, $150 million contract with the Swoosh. Federer has the best endorsement portfolio in sports and is the first tennis player to occupy the top spot in endorsements by earning more than $100 million annually from Uniqlo, Mercedes Benz, Rolex, Credit Suisse, Moet & Chandon, Wilson, Rimowa luggage, On Running (also an investor), Lindt Chocolates, Procter and Gamble, and three other companies.
Two footballers come in next behind the Fed Express, who earned a combined $209 million for 2020.
Cristiano Ronaldo – Many sports stars do not have the European and global recognition that Ronaldo has, and this earned him a lifetime deal with Nike reportedly worth over a billion dollars. He signed with the Italian club Juventus in 2018. 520,000 new Ronaldo jerseys were sold within a day after it was released and worth over $60M. He has an annual take of $105 from salaries and deals with EA Sports, Herbalife, American Tourister, Egyptian Steel, Toyota, Tag Heuer, and a few other brands plus, earnings from his clothing line, CR7. There are hotels in Europe branded along his CR7 line.
Lionel Messi – It’s not only competition on who is the world’s best football player, but also what’s the most popular football supplier. Like Ronaldo, Messi has an undisclosed lifetime deal with Adidas, which could equal CR7’s Nike contract. His salary from FC Barcelona is $80 million annually and earns $32 million more from Turkish Airlines, Mastercard, Pepsi, Budweiser, and Gillette.
LeBron James – At 18-years old, he snubbed a $10 million check from Reebok to not meet with Adidas and Nike, but the Swoosh had other ideas, which led to a $1 billion minimum lifetime deal they agreed on in 2015. He’s not the highest-paid player in the NBA with his $39.2 million but earns an estimated $64 million from Nike, McDonald’s, Samsung, Beats Electronics, AT&T, RImowa, Blaze Pizza, Walmart, Upper Deck, and General Motors Corporation.
Stephen Curry – With a salary of $43 million, Curry is the highest-paid player in the NBA. He renewed his contract with Under Armour up to 2024 for an undisclosed amount, which could also lead to a lifetime deal. Aside from Under Armour, Curry had deals with Rakuten, Vivo, Nissan Motors, Sony, JP Morgan Chase, and Unilever that totals over $44 million./PN
